Chenango Stories: Roger Barnhart

Finding a friendly face at the South New Berlin Post Office is an easy task to accomplish.

Roger Barnhart, the local postmaster, explains being a “people person” helps him assist all of his customers. “I never turn one away,” he said to a customer who came in on his lunch break Monday.

Barnhart was born and raised in the Bainbridge area and graduated from Bainbridge-Guilford in the early 1980s. Following graduation, he tried unsuccessfully to get accepted at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. “After not being accepted there, I decided to join the Marines,” he said, explaining that he was a little unsettled about what he wanted to do exactly.

Barnhart worked as an Avionics Technician in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1988. While in active duty, he began to take part in the Toys for Tots organization; a volunteer service that Barnhart has made part of his life for the past 22 years. Jokingly, Barnhart explains that at first it was a good way he could look nice, wearing his dress blues and stand in the mall in California looking at all the pretty girls, but says ultimately he believes strongly in the service the organization provides.